Warning About Hualumphong Toilet

[robblok]

Another thread full of know-it-alls and their Google search engine.

I believe that even if inconclusive evidence were to be brought forward, all of the nonsensical accusations would keep coming. Why do you instantly go against what the OP says because you have no knowledge of said event? It seems 99% of posters in here are just fuelling their egos some more.

What interested me in this thread is that I opened it and told my girlfriend I was reading about a woman being drugged in a toilet in Bangkok, and my girlfriend knew exactly where I was talking about. She said it's a notoriously dangerous place for muggings. Now, I'm sure some of you will take this to mean my girlfriend knows of some secret Thai-lady scam that women use to cover their real tracks, but she knows of it because it's a notorious place for muggings amongst Thais. Why don't any of you know this? Because believe it or not, most of you probably don't have a clue about a lot of things in Thailand, no matter how much you hang around the bars and here other expat's stories. Limited information is the bane of this forum.

The fact that the OP's young son was with his wife clearly shows this wasn't some scam. Or maybe, because you are a sad bunch of xenophobes, she paid him off and got him to lie to daddy, because isn't that how Thai people work? Some of you need to get out of the bars once in a while and meet some regular folk.

Edited for clarity.

I don't visit bars and i am among the regular Thai folk all the time. The guys seem to laugh and make fun about the ways some ladies scam their husbands. We all know the type. Older guy younger wife. Wife has a poor family that think hubby is an ATM. But wife cant ask hubby out straight all the time... so scams are thought off.

Anyway i made my views clear, and i got science and common sense on my side. I asked my wife and some other Thais the result was mixed. From nice scam to it is real. Don't forget urban myths are kept alive by gullible people. Thailand has a lot of those.

[lomatopo]

and my girlfriend knew exactly where I was talking about. She said it's a notoriously dangerous place for muggings. Why don't any of you know this?

The fact that the OP's young son was with his wife clearly shows this wasn't some scam.

1.) I have never heard of the women's toilet at Hualumphong being a "notoriously dangerous place for muggings". Perhaps you, or your girlfriend, could share any details regarding this claim? We may not know this because our girlfriends haven't told us about it, yet?

2.) This was not a mugging. The victim was put to sleep gently, then woke up. Since the victim was unconscious I'm not sure we can say it was a mugging?

3.) The OP's young son was, as I infer it, waiting outside the toilet and thus not a witness. If it is a scam I surely hope the son is not a willing participant.

Edited May 27, 2011 by lomatopo

[partington]

Look, this thread was presented as a serious warning about a specific type of crime in a specific place using a simply remarkable drug-assisted method.

People have every right to know whether this is a credible threat or can effectively be discounted.

Every contributor has the right to use their intelligence , personal knowledge, or acquired knowledge ( is learning new things by research now somehow reprehensible?), and judgement to evaluate that threat and let others know of their conclusions. That's what we have minds for, that is what advice is based on, and that is what this forum is for, as long as these opinions are presented with politeness and tolerance.

I myself am satisfied that this is not a credible threat and therefore will be not be trying to cover up any bare skin when I happen to be at Hualamphong....

[FritsSikkink]

They didn't get her phone or wallet because she left those with my son who was waiting outside with the toilet attendent.

Does she always leave her phone and wallet with somebody else (you or your son) when she goes to the toilet or was this a 1 off?

[gregb]

The thing I find most interesting about this tale is how it has morphed over the last decade. When I arrived to Thailand back in the 90's the story simply had people using "magic" to touch their victims on the wrist and render them either unconscious or pliable to handing over all their valuables. I was warned repeatedly about how prevalent this was, and to watch out for these black artists. These stories all originated from well meaning Thai ladies of less than Western quality education. They were genuinely worried about this. They all believed it was true, and everyone knew a friend who knew a friend that had this happen to them.

Fast forward a decade or 2 and now we see that Thais have realized farangs don't buy into the whole "black magic" thing, so instead it is now a miracle drug which is doing this. Funny how after decades of being perpetrated on innocent victims the mechanism by which this scam happens is still not understood.

Personally, I think Scotty just beamed the gold directly off the poor girl in the toilet. My sources say they needed it to construct a radiation shield to protect the Earth from villains in the 24th century, and only gold from Earth's past would be effective.

It is enough for me to know how long this story has been going around and to have seen many of its variations that I can judge it is almost certainly a scam. If I was the owner of a shopping mall though, I would also pay some tea money to some con artists that tried to use this story. Even if I knew it wasn't true, enough Thais have heard this tale over the ages and actually believe it in one of its forms that I wouldn't want the rumor getting started. Cheaper to pay the extortion money, especially if the father of one of the completely innocent angels happened to be a policeman.

[SteeleJoe]

What interested me in this thread is that I opened it and told my girlfriend I was reading about a woman being drugged in a toilet in Bangkok, and my girlfriend knew exactly where I was talking about. She said it's a notoriously dangerous place for muggings. Now, I'm sure some of you will take this to mean my girlfriend knows of some secret Thai-lady scam that women use to cover their real tracks, but she knows of it because it's a notorious place for muggings amongst Thais. Why don't any of you know this? Because believe it or not, most of you probably don't have a clue about a lot of things in Thailand, no matter how much you hang around the bars and here other expat's stories. Limited information is the bane of this forum.

The fact that the OP's young son was with his wife clearly shows this wasn't some scam. Or maybe, because you are a sad bunch of xenophobes, she paid him off and got him to lie to daddy, because isn't that how Thai people work? Some of you need to get out of the bars once in a while and meet some regular folk.

Edited for clarity.

-- Talked to 3 taxi drivers and 7 different Thais this evening and none of them knew of this notorious place for muggings. (For whatever that's worth).

-- Secret Thai lady scam? <deleted>? I am on record as having questions and reservations about the OP and I have given reasons. Not ONE of them has in any way implicitly or otherwise cast any aspersions on Thai women. I'm a guy who would be FAR more likely to take offense at such things given that as a general rule I have a great deal of regard for Thai women due to the countless numbers of really fine people I've known here. Indeed, forced to choose between associating with the average expat and the average Thai woman, I'd probably go for the latter. (No offense people -- I just think the odds are better).

-- Speaking for myself, I haven't been in a bar in years and of the nearly 3 decades I've lived here, a tiny percentage of it has been spent in bars or socializing with people who work in them or frequent them.

-- The OP's son wasn't in the bathroom. Leave the poor kid out of it.

-- I have socialized, lived and worked with Thai people -- the vast majority of whom have never been in an expat bar of any stripe let alone the kind you are thinking of -- for a very long time. It's astonishingly presumptuous of you to lecture the way you do.

[SteeleJoe]

DSL:

Allow me to quote myself:

I am on record as having questions and reservations about the OP and I have given reasons. Not ONE of them has in any way implicitly or otherwise cast any aspersions on Thai women.

Re-reading this, it occurred to me that I didn't check to make sure before making this declaration, which is very unlike me (I am careful not put into writing wht I can't back up). I still haven't done so and I know why -- I just don't think in any way close to the stereotype/caricature you created and (is apparently the entirety of your rebuttal) so I know I wouldn't have done that.

And here's something else: IF the OP's wife is lying, not only do I not condemn all Thai women, I don't even necessarily condemn her. There are any number of scenarios in which I could empathize or sympathize with her if she had...

Edited May 27, 2011 by SteeleJoe

[vont]

DSL:

Allow me to quote myself:

I am on record as having questions and reservations about the OP and I have given reasons. Not ONE of them has in any way implicitly or otherwise cast any aspersions on Thai women.

Re-reading this, it occurred to me that I didn't check to make sure before making this declaration, which is very unlike me (I am careful not put into writing wht I can't back up). I still haven't done so and I know why -- I just don't think in any way close to the stereotype/caricature you created and (is apparently the entirety of your rebuttal) so I know I wouldn't have done that.

And here's something else: IF the OP's wife is lying, not only do I not condemn all Thai women, I don't even necessarily condemn her. There are any number of scenarios in which I could empathize or sympathize with her if she had...

A rare gentleman with a golden heart to match.

Thailand is so exceptionally fortunate to have you.

May your days henceforth be even more levitatingly satisfying, gratifying and rewarding. :jap:

[katana]

Did a quick Google search in Thai for muggings, druggings and robberies at Hualumphong train station toilet, but turned up nothing.

Most entries seemed to be questions about cleanliness and cost etc although did find one story about a dead 6 month-old baby being discovered there.

Anyone find anything?

Edited May 27, 2011 by katana

[lomatopo]

And here's something else: IF the OP's wife is lying, not only do I not condemn all Thai women, I don't even necessarily condemn her. There are any number of scenarios in which I could empathize or sympathize with her if she had...

Agreed. A much more likely scenario is one where she was actually the victim of a team of pick-pockets, one distracted her by bumping into her, or dropping something while a second lifted the items. These pickpockets are quite adept. Once in the loo (stall) realizing she was the victim of pickpockets, and perhaps thinking her story might be suspect, she came up with the drugging scenario, which sounds more dramatic. She might even have become very woozy at her plight, or the famous odor, if the Men's toilet there is any comparison.

I still don't understand why the OP won't comment on the Police report? She should have made a report - unreported crime is a major issue here - if only in hopes of making things safer for others. If she did not make a report, perhaps owing to an imminent departure, she should still follow up with the Police, IMO. Not filing a report seems almost, well, criminal, in that many more women might suffer the same experience? Someone might die from the transdermal drugging, if the original story is not a prevarication.

[andrewbkk]

A much more likely scenario is one where she was actually the victim of a team of pick-pockets, one distracted her by bumping into her, or dropping something while a second lifted the items. These pickpockets are quite adept. Once in the loo (stall) realizing she was the victim of pickpockets, and perhaps thinking her story might be suspect, she came up with the drugging scenario, which sounds more dramatic.

I would suggest that is a much less likely scenario. Why go from a story that's credible to one that's almost impossible to believe.

The key point is that she left her phone and wallet with her son who was waiting outside with the toilet attendent. Why would she do that?

The answer is simple. Because she didn't want them to get "stolen". She only wanted her gold to get "stolen".

As to why she wanted her gold "stolen" ........ who knows? Gambling debts. Perhaps her sister needed the money for an abortion. There are numerous possibilities.

The only thing for sure, of course, is that nothing was stolen.

[lomatopo]

The answer is simple. Because she didn't want them to get "stolen". She only wanted her gold to get "stolen".

Aha, I finally get this scenario, the quotes helped and I'm perhaps not as jaded, so was a bit slow understanding your scenario.

That does appear to be well-thought out advanced planning.

[SteeleJoe]

A much more likely scenario is one where she was actually the victim of a team of pick-pockets, one distracted her by bumping into her, or dropping something while a second lifted the items. These pickpockets are quite adept. Once in the loo (stall) realizing she was the victim of pickpockets, and perhaps thinking her story might be suspect, she came up with the drugging scenario, which sounds more dramatic.

I would suggest that is a much less likely scenario. Why go from a story that's credible to one that's almost impossible to believe.

The key point is that she left her phone and wallet with her son who was waiting outside with the toilet attendent. Why would she do that?

The answer is simple. Because she didn't want them to get "stolen". She only wanted her gold to get "stolen".

As to why she wanted her gold "stolen" ........ who knows? Gambling debts. Perhaps her sister needed the money for an abortion. There are numerous possibilities.

The only thing for sure, of course, is that nothing was stolen.

That's more like what I was thinking -- though I would have said "some kind of debt" (though gambling had occurred to me) or "family member in trouble" rather than 'sister needs abortion' -- I guess I'm slightly less cynical.

And of course it might be neither of those things but something not entirely unacceptable. Or not. IF she is lying.

[janverbeem]

A much more likely scenario is one where she was actually the victim of a team of pick-pockets, one distracted her by bumping into her, or dropping something while a second lifted the items. These pickpockets are quite adept. Once in the loo (stall) realizing she was the victim of pickpockets, and perhaps thinking her story might be suspect, she came up with the drugging scenario, which sounds more dramatic.

I would suggest that is a much less likely scenario. Why go from a story that's credible to one that's almost impossible to believe.

The key point is that she left her phone and wallet with her son who was waiting outside with the toilet attendent. Why would she do that?

The answer is simple. Because she didn't want them to get "stolen". She only wanted her gold to get "stolen".

As to why she wanted her gold "stolen" ........ who knows? Gambling debts. Perhaps her sister needed the money for an abortion. There are numerous possibilities.

The only thing for sure, of course, is that nothing was stolen.

That's more like what I was thinking -- though I would have said "some kind of debt" (though gambling had occurred to me) or "family member in trouble" rather than 'sister needs abortion' -- I guess I'm slightly less cynical.

And of course it might be neither of those things but something not entirely unacceptable. Or not. IF she is lying.

The victim is most probably a addicted whore monger and needs money that the spouse can't trace.................Ooops,the victim is female :D

[soundman]

The victim is most probably a addicted whore monger and needs money that the spouse can't trace

and on that note, I think this topic has well and truly run its course.

Any further speculation is not going to help the OP make in-roads to retrieving the gold, or for the rest of you, highlight any more "dangers" of the Hualampong dunnies.

Closed.